Lycopodium dendroideum is a clubmoss native to the northeastern United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is part of a complex of species colloquially known as groundpine and which was originally all lumped under the species Lycopodium obscurum

Lycopodium obscurum

Lycopodium obscurum, commonly called ground pine or princess pine, is a species of clubmoss in the family Lycopodiaceae. It is a close relative of other treelike Lycopodium such as L. dendroideum and L. Hickeyi. It is distributed from Alabama to the east coast of the United States, and north into...

. This species was known as L. obscurum L. var. dendroideum (Michx.) Eaton

Eaton

-Buildings:*Eaton Centre, the name of various shopping malls across Canada*Toronto Eaton Centre, a large retail and office complex in Toronto, Ontario*Eaton's / John Maryon Tower, a cancelled skyscraper in Toronto*Eaton Center , an office tower in Ohio...

.

This and other Lycopodium species were once commonly collected for decorative Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 greenery. The spore of this species was also collected as Lycopodium powder

Lycopodium powder

Lycopodium powder is a yellow-tan dust-like powder historically used as a flash powder. It is composed of the dry spores of clubmoss plants, various fern relatives principally in the genera Lycopodium and Diphasiastrum...

, although this was not the preferred species for the purpose.

L. dendroideum prefers humus-rich, sandy, moist but not wet soils.